Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26602489›Full record

ArticleInternal medicine journal2016

Prescription opioid analgesics for pain management in Australia: 20 years of dispensing.

M M Islam, I S McRae, S Mazumdar, S Taplin, R McKetin

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Internal medicine journal, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Hospital and long-term opioid use according to analgosedation with fentanyl vs. morphine: Findings from the ANALGESIC trial.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2024
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Opioid prescribing in Australia: too much and not enough.The Medical journal of Australia · 2021
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Current State of Opioid Therapy and Abuse.Current pain and headache reports · 2016
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

M M IslamAustralian Primary Health Care Research Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
I S McRaeAustralian Primary Health Care Research Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
S MazumdarAustralian Primary Health Care Research Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
S TaplinAustralian Catholic University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
R McKetinCentre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOpioid prescribing/dispensing data can inform policy surrounding regulation by informing trends and types of opioid prescribed and geographic variations. In Australia so far only partial data on dispensing have been published, and data for states/territories remain unknown.

aimUsing a range of measures, this study examines 20-year (1992-2011) trends in prescription opioid analgesics in Australia - both nationally and for individual jurisdictions.

methodsDispensing data were obtained from the Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) websites. Trends in numbers of prescriptions and daily defined dose (DDD)/1000 people/day were examined over time and across states/territories. Seasonal variations in PBS/Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) items for nationwide dispensing were adjusted using a centred moving smoothing technique.

resultsIn two decades, 165.32 million prescriptions for opioids were dispensed, with codeine and its derivatives the most prescribed formulation (50.1%) followed by tramadol (13.5%) and oxycodone derivatives (12.7%). In terms of DDD/1000 people/day, dispensing increased from 5.38 in 1992 to 14.46 in 2011. There are significant increasing trends for total, PBS/RPBS and under co-payment prescriptions (priced below patient co-payment). The DDD/1000 people/day for items dispensed through PBS/RPBS was highest in Tasmania.

conclusionPrescription opioid dispensing increased substantially over the study period. With an ageing population, this trend is likely to continue in future. A growing concern about harms associated with opioid use warrants balanced control measures so that harms could be minimised without reducing effective pain treatment. Research examining utilisation in small geographic areas may help design spatially tailored interventions. A real-time drug-monitoring programme may reduce undue prescribing and dispensing.

Indexed as

Analgesics, OpioidAustraliaDrug PrescriptionsDrug UtilizationHumansPainPain ManagementPractice Patterns, Physicians'Analgesics, Opioidanalgesicsdaily defined doseopioid analgesicsopioid dispensingpain medicineprescription opioid

Identifiers

PMID26602489

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.